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Best New To Me Beer – 2016

The first time I drank my favorite new to me beer of 2016, I was visiting my friend Justin’s house and spent the evening tasting beers. On the train back into the city the next day I started looking online to find where I could get more. I then went to 3 different beer stores in order to get a few more bottles. It was that good.

According to untapped, I tasted over 200 different beers in 2016, many of them for the first time. One of them though was a step above the rest, and that is Coffee Dinosmores from Off Color. Here is how Off Color describes this delicious beer:

Coffee Dinosmores (2016) | 10.5%abv

We worked with Metric Coffee this for this years Coffee Dinosmores. Looking to highlight and expand upon the roasty, smokey aspect of the beer we chose a single origin bean from Sumatra – Ibu Rumani with classic dominant chocolate, pipe tobacco and cherry notes because big, dumb stupid flavors in the right proportions can be delicate and nuanced as well.

This is a beer that I’ve absolutely found to be one that you need to drink warmer. When cold, it’s unimpressive, but once it comes up to in between cellar and room temperature, you can taste all the individual notes. The graham is the most understated and the coffee the most pronounced, but overall it’s a complex beer with so many flavors.

Another batch is allegedly coming out early in 2017. It will be interesting to see the coffee chosen. I didn’t get to have the 2015, but that used Quasar coffee instead of the Sumatra from Metric. Would be cool to see the trend of different coffees continue.

Some of the other new to me beers that stood out are: Valley of the Heart’s Delight by Almanac Beer Company, Mango Lunacy by Mudshark Brewing Company, Friek by Odell Brewing Co., Bourbon Barrel-Aged Framinghammer by Jack’s Abby, Psychokinesis by Grimm Artisanal Ales, The Known Universe by Finback Brewery, Eighteen by Central Waters Brewing Company, Oude Bae by Stillwater Artisanal Ales, and M1 Saison (w/ Ginger, Lemongrass & Orange) by Transmitter Brewing.